Boosting Cu─In─Zn─S‐based Quantum‐Dot Light‐Emitting Diodes Enabled by Engineering Cu─NiO<sub>x</sub>/PEDOT:PSS Bilayered Hole‐Injection Layer
Jinxing Zhao, Fei Chen, Haoran Jia, Lijin Wang, Ping Liu, Tao Luo, Li Guan, Xu Li, Zhe Yin, Aiwei Tang
Abstract
Abstract The imbalance of charge injection is considered to be a major factor that limits the device performance of cadmium‐free quantum‐dot light‐emitting diodes (QLEDs). In this work, high‐performance cadmium‐free Cu─In─Zn─S(CIZS)‐based QLEDs are designed and fabricated through tailoring interfacial energy level alignment and improving the balance of charge injection. This is achieved by introducing a bilayered hole‐injection layer (HIL) of Cu‐doped NiO x (Cu─NiO x )/Poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene): poly (styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS). High‐quality Cu─NiO x film is prepared through a novel and straightforward sol–gel procedure. Multiple experimental characterizations and theoretical calculations show that the incorporation of Cu 2+ ions can regulate the energy level structure of NiO x and enhance the hole mobility. The state‐of‐art CIZS‐based QLEDs with Cu─NiO x /PEDOT:PSS bilayered HIL exhibit the maximum external quantum efficiency of 6.04% and half‐life time of 48 min, which is 1.3 times and four times of the device with only PEDOT:PSS HIL. The work provides a new pathway for developing high‐performance cadmium‐free QLEDs.